Missoula Fire crews were called out to a blaze at the Travelers Inn motel off of North Reserve Street Early Friday morning. Fire chief Jeff Brandt says the fire was called in at around 5:20 a.m.

“The hotel manager on site saw smoke coming from the attic area and by the time crews arrived on scene, there was pretty heavy black smoke coming from the structure,” said Brandt. “The manager did a great job getting all the folks evacuated prior to us driving on scene. We didn’t have a life safety issue to deal with right away.”

The fire climbed inside the structure and fire fighters used a ladder truck to help beat the flames back.

“The ladder company was able to just ladder the building and get up,” Brandt said. “We had to vent a hole because the fire was up in the attic space. A small building like that, we are estimating that to be a property damage of about $100,000. We estimate that the whole structure is worth about 350,000.”

Brandt praised the hotel manager for quickly evacuating the building and being alert and able to call in the blaze. An investigation is underway into what caused the fire in the first place.